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his own prize.

The death of Patrcolus was enough to move Achilles back into the fight, and he was provided with a new set of armour and weapons by the Greek blacksmith god, Hephaestus. Achilles was ready to fight again and called Hector out of Troy to fight him. Hector was considered a great warrior but he was no match for an angered Achilles, and the fight ended with the death of Hector. Achilles though was hardly gracious in victory, and instead attached the body to the back of a chariot and had it pulled behind him as he circled the city of Troy. Achilles also refused to allow anyone from Tory to collect the body so that it could be given a proper funeral.

Just as Achilles began to lose his greatness though it was saved by an action that showed that as well as being a great warrior was also a great man. King Priam himself, ruler of Troy and father to Hector, made his was alone into the camp of the Greek forces, and begged Achilles to give him the body of his son, something that Achilles willingly agreed to. Achilles continued to fight killing many of the strongest warriors amongst the Trojans, including Penthesilia, an Amazon warrior.

The fears of Thetis though came true and Achilles was destined to die at Troy. Despite continued victory against Trojan warriors, he was eventually killed by Paris, another son of King Priam, who managed to throw a spear that hit Achilles on his heel, the one supposed vulnerable point of the warrior. Although not a killing shot for most men, it proved to be a mortal wound for Achilles.

Unlike the armour of other heroes fallen in battle, it was not given to the victor, mainly because Paris was not held in the same esteem as other Trojan soldiers. The armour of Achilles was instead given to Odysseus after he had defeated Ajax in a debate about who was the greatest warrior after Achilles. Odysseus himself actually gave away the armour to the Achilles' son, Neoptolemus, who put it to good use in later battles for Troy. As an interesting side note Achilles and Ajax were tow of the ships present at the Battle of the River Plate during the Second World War.

The death of Achilles is not quite the end of the Achilles story though as he makes a brief appearance in Homer's Odyssey, where the hero Odysseus travels to the underworld and encounters his old friend. The perception given is that Achilles recognises his choice as a youth for a short life was the wrong one, although at the same time he was proud of the heroic exploits of his son during the fall of Troy.

It is probably not surprising that the one story of Achilles known by most people is one of the least recorded events, that of the vulnerable heel. It is though logical considering that a part of the body was named after that vulnerability. Achilles though was more than a demi-god with virtual invincibility, he was the greatest of all of the Greek soldier, but also showed that he had a human side which could act with the utmost dignity as well.

Learn more about this author, Tim Harry.
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